Verdict: 3 StarsMost of us love a good parody as much as the next person, but when the parody is making fun of two mainstays of popular reading at the same time the result is just fictional gold. Fifty Shade of Mr. Darcy (Pocket Star) manages to take on the recent widely popular erotica title and the work of Jane Austen in one tongue-in-cheek swoop.Unfortunately, … [Read more...] about eBook Review: Fifty Shades of Mr. Darcy by William Codpiece Thwackery
E-Book News
British Columbia Mandates Open eTextbooks for Post-Secondary Students
The Province of British Columbia is poised to be the first one in Canada to offer free e-textbooks to 1st and 2nd year students enrolled in college or university. The project is due to be implemented for the 2013 school year. Up to 200,000 BC students each year could benefit from this move under B.C.’s Families First Agenda, saving each student hundreds of dollars a year or … [Read more...] about British Columbia Mandates Open eTextbooks for Post-Secondary Students
Zinio Launches New Windows 8 App
Zinio has announced today that its digital magazine app is now available for Windows 8! This gives people who have a PC or tablet the ability to enjoy a full reading experience right on their desktop. Any past purchases or subscriptions will automatically be delivered right to your PC! You also get to enjoy some new features, such as pinch and stretch and Snap Views, Offline … [Read more...] about Zinio Launches New Windows 8 App
The Sony Readers Book Club Launches
Sony is giving people another reason to pick up the PRS-T2 e-Reader with the launch of the new Readers Book Club. Each month the company will feature a Book of the Month for book clubbers to read and discuss. Readers can participate in LIVE chats via Facebook and Twitter with each author, access bonus material, and enter for a chance to become a VIP member to attend an … [Read more...] about The Sony Readers Book Club Launches
Penguin and Random House Might Merge Companies
Parent companies Bertelsmann and Pearson have issued a statement yesterday that the two sides were in negotiations to merge Penguin and Random House. The statement said; “Pearson confirms that it is discussing with Bertelsmann a possible combination of Penguin and Random House."If this deal occurs, which some said is likely to happen will be the largest publishing merger … [Read more...] about Penguin and Random House Might Merge Companies
Overdrive Media Console Now Available for Windows 8
Overdrive has just released a new app for Windows 8 that functions as your online destination for borrowing digital books from the library. You can borrow, read, and listen to audiobooks directly within the app!The new OverDrive app takes full advantage of Windows 8’s sleek, richly integrated user interface. The ebook reader gives you the option to choose single or … [Read more...] about Overdrive Media Console Now Available for Windows 8
Amazon Releases Windows 8 Kindle App
Windows 8 is due to be released at midnight and Amazon is poised to take advantage of it. The company has officially released its Kindle for Widows and is optimized for touchscreen interfaces found on the new Surface tablet. You can also pin Kindle books from your Kindle library to the Windows Start screen for instant access to your favorites. Unlike the iOS version of the app, … [Read more...] about Amazon Releases Windows 8 Kindle App
UK’s Waterstones Talks About Forging A Deal with Amazon
The BBC website published an interview this week with James Daunt, the managing director of Waterstones, the largest physical bookstore chain in the UK. While Daunt had originally had some aggressive things to say about the apparent global dominance of the online retailer, Daunt signed a deal in May of this year that would put Kindle e-readers on display in Waterstones stores. … [Read more...] about UK’s Waterstones Talks About Forging A Deal with Amazon
OverDrive CEO Addresses UK Parliament on eBook Lending
The Libraries All Party Parliamentary Group held an ebook summit in London today, and one of the announcements from the event was that the group, joined by OverDrive’s CEO Steve Potash, addressed the British House of Commons on the importance and the data of ebook lending. OverDrive, one of the leading sources of loanable digital content for public and school libraries, was … [Read more...] about OverDrive CEO Addresses UK Parliament on eBook Lending
New Bowker Study on eBooks Shows Self-Publishing Growth
Bowker, the ProQuest group that supplies book information to publishers, libraries, and booksellers and is the official US agency for identifying ISBN numbers, released the results today of its most recent study on self-published books, both print and digital. According to the release on the study, available self-published books now total more than 235,000, nearly a triple … [Read more...] about New Bowker Study on eBooks Shows Self-Publishing Growth
Margaret Atwood Debuts Serial Zombie Fiction via WattPad
Margaret Atwood is joining forces with fellow novelist Naomi Alderman to debut serialized Zombie Fiction. The new project is entitled "The Happy Zombie Sunrise Home" and will be issued in thirteen different installments. This is a WattPad exclusive and can be downloaded for a myriad of platforms, including Android. The first three chapters have been officially unveiled today … [Read more...] about Margaret Atwood Debuts Serial Zombie Fiction via WattPad
Digital Publishing Software FlippingBook Offers Options
GoodeReader was recently introduced to an international company, FlippingBook, and its software that allows users to upload their content and have an ebook within minutes. Not very revolutionary, given the growing numbers of ebook platforms that let authors upload content and create a book—for free, no less—in the same time frame. Therefore, FlippingBook has been at work on … [Read more...] about Digital Publishing Software FlippingBook Offers Options
Amazon Launching New eBook Store in Japan October 25th
Amazon will launch its new ebook Store in Japan starting October 25th! This will include over 50,000 Japanese-language Kindle books, the largest number of Oricon best sellers, and over 15,000 manga titles. The company will also bring the Kindle Fire HD Tablet and Kindle Paperwhite e-Reader along for the ride."After twelve years of selling print books on Amazon.co.jp, we are … [Read more...] about Amazon Launching New eBook Store in Japan October 25th
New Study Explores Teens’ Reading, Library Use
Initial indicators from the Book Industry Study Group more than a year ago demonstrated the young adults were the least likely demographic to adopt digital reading, preferring instead to use their electronic devices for socialization rather than education. But a new report from Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, funded in part by the Bill and Melinda … [Read more...] about New Study Explores Teens’ Reading, Library Use